And the Winner Is . . . Wall Street!

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So who were the big winners at the Oscars, the Grammys, and the Super Bowl? It may just have been the suits on Wall Street.

If you’re looking toward a career analyzing what makes Wall Street tick, you might want to look at a growing trend that links big annual TV events to making money on the Big Board. It’s a strange phenomenon, but researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire have found that there’s big money to be made by investing in the stocks of companies that advertise during the Super Bowl. The same trend seems to be taking hold for advertisers on other annual major TV events like the Academy Awards.

The large corporations spending megabucks during these big events have been grabbing investor interest, and there’s plenty of money to be made on the Street as a result. Researchers found that over the past 12 years, investors who bought stock in publicly traded companies that were planning to advertise on the Super Bowl made billions. Investors are reporting that they are seeing this same trend with other annual star-studded events where big corporations realize they can reach a tremendous audience.

Because these commercials aren’t cheap, investors recognize that the companies buying them must be in good financial shape. Ads during the Super Bowl in 2008 cost a sweet $2.7 mill for a 30-second spot, and 30-second spots on the Oscars came in at a cool $1.6 million.

While the two events generally attracted different advertisers, the results were the same–a spike in consumer spending on the products being advertised. Not surprisingly, Budweiser opted for the Super Bowl, JC Penney for the Oscars. Coca-Cola bought airtime on both events. And sometimes a company throws a curveball, just to see if you’re paying attention: This year, for instance, the lingerie company Victoria’s Secret ran a highly successful commercial during the Super Bowl.

Buy Low, Sell High

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire found that investors were buying up stock in companies slated to advertise on the Super Bowl about a week before the game. The investors then sold the stock several days after the game, just as the buzz about the ads was going hot and heavy.

The stock of the companies advertising on the Super Bowl beat the Standard & Poor’s 500 by an average of 1.3 percent. That translates into billions of dollars in profits. Bottom line: It’s wise to invest in companies that advertise on the Super Bowl and other nationally televised annual events.

Usually, it’s fairly common knowledge which companies are going to advertise on these events. In the corporate world, it’s quite a coup to buy time on the Super Bowl or the Oscars. So companies aren’t shy about letting the world know about it. That gives investors plenty of time to scoop up stock ahead of the broadcast.

Some Super Hype

There’s also plenty of hype surrounding the ads for these major events. Entertainment shows cover the production of these commercials. Business pages feature stories about the placement of these ads. People respond to the hype and watch for the ads; they want to be part of the morning-after water-cooler discussions about the event itself and which ads were real standouts.

So as Madison Avenue looks for ways to develop these memorable commercials, Wall Street has found a way to invest in them and create a new road to riches.